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The Raynham Channel
Board of Selectmen 12/10/2024
(Episode Description is AI generated and may be errors in accuracy)
Join us as we uncover the intricate dynamics of local governance, exploring everything from heartfelt community initiatives to strategic tax discussions and ambitious bridge projects. Hear Fire Chief's moving tribute to the community heroes behind the Santa run and Secret Santa initiative, and discover powerful stories of teamwork during a school electrical incident. The Highway Superintendent also shares the town’s proactive efforts in snow management and winter preparations, showcasing a public service that truly prioritizes safety and efficiency.
We also navigate the complex terrain of tax rate adjustments with insights from data analysts. Community voices present passionate arguments on shifting tax rates, balancing the needs of residents and businesses. Plus, delve into the South Street East Old Colony Bridge project, and learn about the transitions from a local to a state-level project due to federal funding. This episode is a must-listen for anyone invested in understanding the challenges and triumphs of maintaining a vibrant, resilient town infrastructure and economy.
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Good evening everybody. I will call the meeting to order at 7 pm and inform the public that we are being both broadcast live and recorded by the Rainham Channel, and I would ask those in the audience to join us in the pledge, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve both the regular session minutes and executive session minutes that are not to be publicly released at this time for our December 3rd meeting.
Speaker 2:I'll make the motion to accept the minutes as printed.
Speaker 1:Second, all in favor Aye Approved unanimously. Department heads First up is our fire chief, ryan Lasivita, chief.
Speaker 3:First of all, I'd just like to start by thanking some people. Every year we do the Santa run through town and we also do Secret Santa to collect toys and stuff for needy people in Rainham, and I have to thank Deputy Johnson over there. He's part of it. But Lieutenant Jason Carnes really spearheads that effort and does a great job. He's the one that has finalized that route over the last six years and there's nothing better than to drive down the street and see little kids smiling when Santa's on the back of a fire truck. So Jason does an excellent job and he has my gratitude with his family, along with Michael Craig, who has a very close relationship with Santa and mrs Claus.
Speaker 3:So those guys do a great job. And someone else, candace Dalton. She's a psychic medium and always I think for a lot of years has done some of those shows to raise money, and 100% of that money that she raises goes to Secret Santa, and this year she raised $10,000 and it all went to that cost. So without people like that and the support of the community who's giving us gifts on the ride there, it wouldn't be as successful as it is. So I just wanted to make sure I get that out quick. Fire instance last month 123, 236 medicals and 147 inspectional services. We had a really busy day today and just as an example went in this morning, we were at three thousand five hundred eighty one runs for the year and as I walked in this afternoon or this evening, we're at thirty five ninety three. So the other thing I will say Again with Secret Santa, police Department always plays a big role, so we're grateful for them, and today it was. It was no different.
Speaker 3:We had an electrical accident at the water garage this morning that caused the middle school to lose power and when TMLP was able to put the power back on some light fixtures, if you will, or circuits lights, fluorescent lights. They short-circuited and put some smoke into the first floor and the second floor. So we got a fire alarm. We had to evacuate the school. They ended up having to, because of the smell, to transport all those students out or get them ready to go out, and without the cooperation of the police, the fire and the school, it wouldn't have went off as smoothly as it did. So my thanks to Superintendent Powers and Chief LaPlante and his crew, and especially mine A lot of those guys because we were busy this morning. Also a lot of those guys that showed up at the middle school were off duty and came in on the recall, miss Riley thank you, mr chairman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much, chief and the members of your department great team effort today. I heard that was fantastic and everything. And lieutenant Karnes does an awesome job. The Santa run and the secret Santa.
Speaker 6:Thank you all so much for everything can't say enough good things about the secret Santa right in the fire department. Thank you, everything you guys do you thanks, chief thanks death.
Speaker 1:December 18th to taking twist of December 18th.
Speaker 5:Thank you, thank you superintendent norm start with s word. We had our first three events for the snow all within about a week's period on November 27th, where you called out to do some sports sorting salting I apologize 12 5 and then again on 12 8 and those were done before the morning commute, which worked out very well. The road crews been busy with set up and take down of the vote booth, not only the regular vote but the early vote that was here at the town hall. We were able to put the flags out ahead of the Veterans Day holiday. They continue working on work orders in the in the priority order to which they have to be done and lastly, they're getting the all the equipment ready for the snow and ice season which is already kicked off.
Speaker 5:Parking grounds is very busy finalizing the leaf cleanups around all the complexes around town. We were able to get to concession stands, winterized the wells and the irrigation on those two complexes. They also assisted in the vocal set up. We're a little short in the road crew so we pull from other divisions for that. They also were able to set up the tree lighting equipment and lights ahead of the tree lighting. That happened this last past saturday. Solid waste was busy as always at the transfer station, especially with the leaves that come in in november. Also for those folks that like to use the brush dump. That closed. That was our last saturday as of november 30th. That won't reopen again until april. Last Saturday as November 30th. That won't reopen again until people next year projects around town.
Speaker 5:A large patch got finally milling overlaid. That's in front of Lord and drive. That was done by the Rainham Center water district. We appreciate that the original patch wasn't up to there, up to pass, so they had that redone again and line striping for that will happen this Friday. Weather committee. Mill Street gas main. We finally got ever source out there. We appreciate that to move one of the pipes was providing us from doing the drainage on Mill Street itself down by the end over by King Phillip. That was completed a couple of weeks ago and now they were currently. Just now I went by there and they're still working out there today to fix the one move, the one on King Phillip Street. That is scheduled to be done on Thursday.
Speaker 5:It would have been done tomorrow but they're not been working on heavy rain and then we have our contractor coming in on Monday, the CN Corp, to complete that drainage work on Monday, december 16th, and they'll be patching that on Tuesday 1217 and that should complete that work for the season. That's Mill Street. That is no story and King Philip, sorry, yes. Lastly, our HD had some large piles of street sweepings and catch basin cleanings. It's been hanging around for a few years. We were finally able to haul that in-house under our lease contract that we have with waste management at no charge and we had to haul that to Middleborough. That acted as a dual purpose. We were able to put some of our newer hires in those trucks that they'll be using for the winter and get them acclimated with shifting and hauling, shifting and following and all that so we're able to complete that. That was about 400 yards between the two that's all.
Speaker 2:I got no questions. But thank you, norm. I know you've been short staffed, so a lot of pressure there, but for you and the members of your department, thank you for everything you do no college thank you very much, really appreciate it no, I'm you touched upon Mill Street old, but could you get into a little bit more detail?
Speaker 1:I know there's been some concern amongst residents and frustration amongst the board and of you with some of the recent closings of Mill Street after the initial closing.
Speaker 5:Sure, if you could just remind folks what's been going on, I think that would be helpful, sure so when they they have to move gas mains in two different locations, both on the King Phillip and one is actually in King Phillip at the intersection, but the first one that they did was on on Mill Street on the edge of the road. So our request from the highway department is always to keep the road open at least one lane whenever possible and also to open the road at the end of the day, which they were able to do. There was a little caveat to that. We have a new house being built diagonally across from where they were working and they had some materials being delivered that we don't have their schedule and not to throw, you know PD there. A great help to us. But it is up to them to close the road if that's what they see fit. So our request again is always to keep it open, but if they see fit, otherwise they close it, and often I don't even know that happened until I go by there.
Speaker 7:As far as.
Speaker 5:King Phillip, same deal. They open it every night and unfortunately they had to close it. When they open it every night and unfortunately they had to close it. When they say closing, it's a little bit different than the bridge. When you come in through 104 at Tracy's Corner, you can actually access the whole entire road. From that side you can get all the way past the Legion to the last house and then they would have to turn around With the bridge. When that was out you couldn't get, obviously, by the culvert. So because it opened every night and because we get a daily schedule from Eversource sometimes that's fluid and they may get a break and not come out that day it's difficult to notify the public on time frame, unfortunately. Thank you, norm, appreciate that. Have a good night. Thanks, norm.
Speaker 1:No appointments this evening. Public hearings we have one tax classification hearing on real and personal property. I will call that to order at 7.09 pm and I believe that Chair of the Board of Assessors, Ms Oldfield, is with us. Jen.
Speaker 4:Hello, I'm Jen Bates Oldfield, the Chairperson for the Board of Assessors, and we've compiled the numbers for this year's fiscal year 2025 classification hearing. We've provided booklets for you to review. The first page is just a comparison putting all the numbers from fiscal year 2024 and 2025 so that you can have it all on one page. I'm going to switch over to the next page, page two. That shows the fiscal year 2024 recap. I'm sure everybody has these numbers memorized from last year. I think the most important thing is the levy limit, which is going to get carried over to this year. If we go over to page 3, the 2025 recap, we have the levy of $40,697,348.
Speaker 4:The fiscal year 2024 amended growth. We had a personal property account that we had to make a correction on. We have the 2.5 that we had to make a correction on. We have the two and a half that we add in of one million New growth that was collected when the appraisal company went out on outstanding permits for new construction additions, etc. And then the debt exclusion exclusion that gets added in, which gives us a levy limit of forty three million nine hundred and sixty two thousand seven hundred and forty six. The total valuations and number of real and property accounts are currently at about three point four billion for for the town, which is five hundred and five, five thousand six hundred six hundred ninety two accounts. So you can see if the previous fiscal year we had about five thousand six hundred and seventy four, so not an awful lot of new accounts added on. We have the separation out for north, north water and center water accounts and then when we take the levy limit and we take the valuations for the properties for this year that gives the levy limits divided by the values gives us a flat tax rate of 12.96 with north water at 1.44 and center of water at 78 cents. No-transcript and commercial accounts. The town debt exclusion of almost $1.9 million. The effect on the tax rate on this year is about $0.56 per thousand. Last year it was $0. Effect on the tax rate on this year is about 56 cents per thousand. Last year it was 70 cents of the tax rate. This year the town's average assessed single-family home is $589,600. The average town tax bill with the single rate is $7,641, and with a 126 shift that would give us an average bill of about seven thousand one hundred and thirty four dollars of the.
Speaker 4:On page four we have just a breakdown of the different types of property. The numbers all coordinate on the far left with the different property types and we'll go through the whole list but like 101 is a single-family, 102 with condos. It's just a breakdown of all the properties within the town and then again the total values. But you can see how it's broken up. On the next page we have the breakdown of the new growth that was added in. Again, this is just new construction additions, things like that, that the appraisal company for the town goes out on open permits and then adds that additional value onto our books. So we had a total new growth, total real and personal property of $359,740.
Speaker 4:When we go to the next page we have the chart that shows the effect of doing a shift on the tax rate.
Speaker 4:So on the left-hand side, if you can see the residential, we have a roughly about 80% of the properties of residential and 20% of commercial.
Speaker 4:When we do a shift, you know so the minimum would be 1.01. This just kind of shows you. You know how that, how that gets calculated. If you go to the second page of that chart, we've highlighted the 126 shift, which gives us a residential factor of 93.3446. And again, it's just showing how a little bit of the tax burden is taken off the residents and put onto the commercial. Looking at this, it's really just a bunch of numbers and people want to know what's what's the effect on the tax bills. If we go to page 8, the highlight in blue is the commercial value and then we took the pink highlight is the fiscal year average single-family home. So the for the commercial value we used $2 million and then the average single-family home which I had mentioned earlier, which was just under $590,000. So a single tax rate. So again without a shift, the annual tax for the commercial would be just under $26,000 for an annual tax bill, and for the residents it would be roughly about 7600 with the 126 shift you're looking at about.
Speaker 4:It increases from the flat rate. With the 126 the commercial bill would go up to about 3232,600, and the residential goes from $7,600 to about $7,100 for the average tax bill, a shift of $130,000. On the commercial end it would increase to $33,700, and the residential tax bill average would be about $7,000. A shift of $140,000 would give us about $36,300. And then a residential tax bill would be reduced to about $6,800. And lastly, the maximum shift of $150 would bring the commercial to about $38,000, just under $39,000 really and the residential would be about sixty, about sixty seven hundred. If we take the difference on the split from the 150 to the 126, it it's roughly about $40 a month for our residents. If we're looking to see what, if what, that does to the residents, on the flip side that actually would be a bigger increase for our commercial. Again, just, you know the board, you know, discussed this. Just as a reminder if we were to do a shift putting more onto the commercial, we also have to take into consideration that there could be an increase in commercial requests for abatements on the taxes and on the commercial end. That brings a lot of costs into our department as well, A lot of these. You know you have much bigger buildings. We'd have to pay for appraisals, which are pretty costly. Hire an attorney to go to the ATV. If we went so far as to do that, there could be an increase.
Speaker 4:The other thing that we were discussing is you know, if we deterred businesses or their bills went up too much, we could lose. Some of the commercial Commercial real estate is down a little bit. This could result in lower purchase prices, which would lower the values, which would then put more of a tax burden onto the residents because our commercial tax values have gone too. So just there could be a ripple effect, just to take into consideration when you're looking at everything. So again, as always, we need to recognize Jessica Garcia and Amy Englehart in our office, who put a lot of time and effort into putting all these numbers together for us to present tonight. They're the backbone of our department, most definitely, and we rely on them, so they deserve recognition. Are there any questions that I can answer for you guys? Thank you, madam chair miss Riley on the on page 9,.
Speaker 2:Jen, you have a comparison there of the tax rates ours with the surrounding communities. Yes, and some of them are available. Some of them are available. They have this year's but not the coming year, coming year. So am I safe to assume that, or am I reading this correctly, that Rain Hands residential is, for the most part, lower than most of our surrounding towns, correct, and our commercial is higher than some, but not?
Speaker 4:outrageously so. Yep, the towns opted to do the 126 shift for a good number of years and I think it took a little while to get to that point. But what we did, it seemed like it was a sweet spot where we weren't deterring businesses from coming into the area but still able to give the residents a little bit of a break on their taxes. Thank you, mr.
Speaker 1:Collins no questions. Thank you, no questions at this time either, but just to echo your appreciation to Jess and Amy for the good work that they do, and Jen to you and your board as well. We always appreciate the thoroughness of both the presentation but, more importantly, the packet you provide to us, because this certainly informs our decision-making. So thank you for that. It's a public hearing. If the board's okay with that, enough for any citizen the community.
Speaker 2:But if I have one more question for Joe sure Jen is the Board of Assessors recommending that we stay with the 126, correct? Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, man sure any input from the public. If you could just state your name and if you're a resident, for the record.
Speaker 9:John Kosminski, 32 Cynthia Drive, langham. First of all, thank you to the assessors for putting together this package of information. It's certainly valuable for us to consider what to do with respect to the town's upcoming tax bills, and tax rate goes along with it. I kind of feel obliged to point out that, as much as everyone seems inclined to stick with this 1.26 CIP shift factor, we haven't had a change that benefited the local residential taxpayers since 2008 so that's 16 years ago since we've had a movement in this factor, and I'd certainly like to see the board consider moving to the 1.5 old factor. That's highlighted in the assessors documentation I think you'll see it on page 7 and it would result in I'm not correct a reduction in the residential tax rate from the proposed $12.10 to $11.30. And I also feel as though it's important to note that this change doesn't affect the total tax levy at all. The total tax levy stays the same. We're just talking about a shift from the residential rate, which would benefit the residential taxpayers to the business class, and I know everyone's sensitive to the fact that. Well, gee, we've got to make sure we can stay competitive and draw business to the community.
Speaker 9:But I can't help but notice one of the largest taxpayers listed in the packet is our good friends at Walmart. At Walmart, and for some reason they had a looks like they had a reduction in their total valuation from one year to the next. I'm not sure why that is, but I honestly can't feel too sorry for Walmart. I don't know if anyone follows the Walmart stock, but as recently as last Friday, the 52-week close on Walmart went up to $95.60 a share. 52 weeks prior to that they were at $49.85. This year that's a 91% increase in their net worth. That tells me that these commercial taxpayers have the wherewithal to support a change in their tax rate and allow the residents who haven't seen an increase or benefit in the shift for 16 years an opportunity to at least get some relief. So I guess my request is that the board strongly consider a change from the 1.26 to the 1.50 so that at the time we have a little relief going to the residential taxpayers of the town. Thank you, thank you, mr Commissioner. Thank you Any other community input.
Speaker 1:Mr Lewis, the residential taxpayers of the town, thank you, thank you. Thank you any other community, but, mr Lewis, just state your name and if you're a resident, please good evening.
Speaker 7:Bill Lewis from Elm Street East and I'm here for a couple couple of different things. First, the first item is I'm a member of the business and Economic Committee for the town. At our last meeting in November backwards was also there we this was discussed in the in the committee took a unanimous vote that asked the board not to move that shift from 1.26. Leave it where it is the committee, what we do, our number one thing is to attract and retain business and it's our feeling if you, if you, increase the rate over the 1.26, we're going to be defeating both of those also. So, as he was mentioning Walmart, for example, walmart is a large store. We have two of them in town. They pay a lot of taxes and they do make a lot of money.
Speaker 7:The problem I have is that the taxes is also going to hurt the small business. If you take a little small plaza and they have small stores in there, most of the rents are what they call a triple net basis, meaning that any expenses, any additional expenses, the landlord gets, he passes on to the tenants. So we've got these small stores beauty salons, nail salons, jewelry stores who are going to end up paying additional taxes, not the landlord, it'll be the tenants. And you have to remember, for every dollar and Jen went over this for every dollar that you increase the commercial tax rate, I'm sorry, for every dollar that you change the commercial tax rate. No, for every dollar that you change the residential tax rate, it's a $3 effect on the commercial rate. So it's a $ dollar effect on the commercial rate. So it's a one dollar savings to the tech, to the resident.
Speaker 7:It's a three dollar increase to the commercial. So I've been an advocate to have the. I've been an advocate to have a flat tax rate. Joe, you know, for the last 30 years I've gotten up and I felt that we should have a flat tax rate. I look at it that businesses make very few demands on town services. They don't have kids at school, they don't use the senior center, they don't use the park and rec, so they're really paying more than their fair share. So I personally think that we should decrease the year shift from the 1.26. I know that's probably not going to go anywhere.
Speaker 7:But that's been my feeling for the last 30 years that I've gotten up here and spoken. So business and economic committee request that you leave the shift where it is not increase it, and I ask the same thing. Thank, you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Mr Lewis. Any other comments? Mr Kaminsky.
Speaker 9:John Kazminski, 32 Cynthia Drive. I heard the comments and the appeal to retain the CIP shift at the 1.26, and I have to ask the question if the board's aware of the provision in the law that allows for a 10% reduction in the business tax. If they adopted that provision, it would be for the small businesses that this gentleman was referring to, for any business that had 10 or fewer employees. So the first question is has the town ever adopted that provision? To my knowledge, no, and so my question is if you're all that sensitive to give business a break, you could still give that 10% benefit to the small businesses and still change this CIP factor to 150 to help the residents. So please give that some consideration before you put this to a vote and keep everything the same, because it's been 16 years since the local residential taxpayers have seen any kind of a break on this factor. Thank you, thank you. Any additional comments?
Speaker 1:Seeing none, I'll open it back up to the board for any final comments before we go for a vote.
Speaker 2:Well, I just wanted to point out that the taxpayers are getting a break with the 1.126 shift, because I'm looking here and many of our area communities have a flat tax which gives no break to the residents Bridgewater East, bridgewater, halifax Lake, gouvel, rehoboth so the 1.126 shift is giving a break and it has been for the last, as the gentleman said, 16 years and I just would love to give residents a break. We are residents, obviously, but I don't think this is the right climate to put more of a burden on our businesses. Obviously, the economy is not doing well. We have a very large building that housed our stop and shop which is now vacant. Mr Lewis referred to the Economic and Business Development Commission. I know that they're trying to see if there's anybody out there that we can interest in coming there, but it's not a great time for businesses to be expanding, especially the ones that have physical facilities. There are a couple of other large businesses in town that I understand, at least on a corporate level, are having some difficulty.
Speaker 2:Our commercial base is our lifeblood of our economic and financial health and well-being for our community and I think the 126 has worked. Several boards before us and boards of Assessors have recommended that and it gives our residents somewhat of a break. Nothing is going to negatively impact our residential tax rate more than if we lose businesses or hopefully we'd like to attract more businesses. So, again looking at it, we don't have the lowest tax rate for businesses. There are several in the area that are, with those flat tax rate, have a lower rate for our commercials. So I think my thoughts at this point would be to agree with the Board of Assessors and the Economic and Business Development Commission and keep the rate where it is, and I will make that as a motion. Thank you, ms Farley. Mr.
Speaker 6:Gollum, first of all, let me preface this. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert with this, but I am as much as I would love to have lower taxes residentially, honestly I would, and say that we haven't had a relief or a break in 16 years. I understand what you're saying, like we haven't been given a significant reduction in 16 years. I can also make the argument that 16 years of success, like that's the sweet spot, like we haven't been losing businesses and we haven't been losing residents.
Speaker 6:Would I have loved to be able to tell residents, hey, we're gonna cut taxes absolutely? Of course I would, but I do honestly fear, even if one of the I'm not a fan of some of the big super department stores, but if one of those two stores left the board now that, picking that up, with my limited experience and what I've heard from the Finance Committee all people that do this professionally I would just personally be uncomfortable changing something that we've been doing for 16 years, knowing that there's a chance it's going to disrupt a huge income of tax basis from the businesses. I personally am comfortable with the 1.26 and as much as I would love to say, hey, we lower taxes for the residents, I don't want to do it at the expense of two years later chasing our tails saying we've lost significant business. So I'm comfortable staying with the 1.26.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I will echo the sentiment, I think, of my two colleagues. I know this is always something that the three of us take seriously and it's great to hear public input from both sides of it. In 08, I was the one and Bill will attest to this because we had a good blow at that yeah, to increase the rate, but I feel at this point, the 126, and everybody seems to be calling it the same thing is the sweet spot for us when you're looking at the numbers, but I also want to highlight a couple other things is the sweet spot for us when you're looking at the numbers, but I also want to highlight a couple other things that the residential rate is going down with the 1-2-6 split by $0.32 per thousand and I always want to call this out because it's, I think, a critical component to this conversation and any vote we take and it's the effect of the debt exclusion, and the debt exclusion is additional taxes that the voters approved to pay for our schools and to pay for sewer infrastructure and that continues to go down. We're under two million left on that debt and it's an effective 56 cents per thousand on the rate. Once that is paid off, our rate will be down to 1154. And to your earlier point, miss Riley, about where we're at compared to other communities, we're already on the low end and that would put us even lower when you take that in, and so our rate for years has been artificially inflated because of those additional increases that, again, the voters of this town authorized. And I think that's important to call out, because when you look at the services in my opinion that Rainham provides and I've always been biased about Rainham, but I think at $1,154 per thousand it's a relatively attractive community to live in and we can't lose sight of our businesses.
Speaker 1:If we were talking strictly about the Walmarts, I might have a different opinion, because I can share Mr Kaminsky's opinion on the fact that they are not struggling, but unfortunately it's some of the other businesses that would be collateral damage at this point if we increased it. I read recently that Big Lots is announcing a string of closures. We happen to have a Big Lots in town. I'm not aware that they're on the list yet, but that's something I think we have to be cognizant of.
Speaker 1:Restaurants continue to be on the margins business and we have not only, in my opinion, some good restaurants, but restaurants that are owned by Rainham residents, and so I think we have to take that into consideration as well and we have to take in the other small businesses. We have to take that into consideration as well, and we have to take in the other small businesses the Hibachi Sushi Buffet, which is a Rainham owner, the Sylvia and Quinn Law Office, which was a Rainham owner, and so those are things I think we have to factor in as well, and while I always enjoy this hearing and I always like to take a fresh perspective as to where to land on it, I would tend to side with my two colleagues this evening to maintain the one, two, six split and there is a motion and a second on the floor. Any final discussion?
Speaker 1:But our business is also employee-owned residents too, which is an important factor.
Speaker 2:All right, mr Barnes.
Speaker 8:Just to make clear in the motion, the residential factor would be .933446.
Speaker 1:Yes, so I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye, aye, that is approved unanimously and I will close the hearing at 736. Thank you all. Alright, old business. Ms Riley, I have none, mr Collins. No, sir. Alright, new business. First up is presentation and discussion on the South Street East Old Colony Bridge with City of Totten officials and data group. East Old Colony Bridge with City of Totten officials and beta group, and then a subsequent approval to enter into the MOA with the City of Totten regarding design and engineering services for the bridge. Who's here?
Speaker 8:to present. The Chris Jones, who's the vice president of beta group, is prepared to come up. Right leave the presentation. The presentation is in your packet.
Speaker 10:Mr Jones, good evening. As Greg said, my name is Chris Jones. I'm with Beta Group. We are currently under contract with the city of Tottenham to do the design for the replacement of the Southeast Street East Bridge.
Speaker 10:If you turn to the first page of the presentation that you have, I'll say that this project started off as strictly a municipal project, and as a municipal project for bridges in the state. There is a state law called chapter 30, chapter 85, section 35, that requires that for any bridges in the state they have to be the design has to be reviewed by the MassDOT before, before it goes to construction. So they need their approval, and the requirements for that review vary depending on a number of factors the amount of construction, the type of construction that you're doing, what's the roadway classification and what's the span of the bridge. And depending on those three factors, the materials that you have to submit from MassDOT to review can vary. I'll get into a little bit more what those particulars are, but the point I want to make with this is, though, that MassDOT only typically reviews those chapter 85 reviews at the completion of the design, so it's a limited review. They're doing it after everything is complete it's a final sign-off before it goes construction and they're only reviewing it basically for the structural aspect of the bridge. They're not looking at any other factors of the construction. They're looking at the structural feasibility of the bridge.
Speaker 10:So we had started the design on this project, and during the design in the preliminary stages, the project received a community project funding grant of $5 million. Now this is the new federal earmark program essentially received a community project funding grant of $5 million. Now, this is the new federal earmark program essentially and this was the first round of this new program. So it's a new system, it's federal and the project got $5 million. So there were a lot of questions with this happened because no one was aware of what, what was involved in meeting the terms of this grant that that the project received, and there was a long delay while everything was figured out. And eventually it came out that, well, because this is federal funds, the Federal Highway Department doesn't consider local municipalities as competent to administer a bridge construction project, and so all of the funding has to flow through the State Department of Transportation. So MassDOT gets the funds from the feds and in order for them to distribute the funds for the construction, they need to take it on as a mass DOT project. So we had to go through a process to get this accepted as a mass DOT project and once that happens, the whole idea of this being a limited review just changes it. It goes completely out the door.
Speaker 10:So if you go to the next page so this here is a list of submissions that gets reviewed during the design process, and I'm not going to go through all of them, but I will show. You See three highlighted on there the PS&E submission, hydraulic analysis and the geotechnical report. Those would typically be reviewed at the end of the design by Mass Highway if this were a Chapter 85 job. But now that this is a Mass DOT project, we have all of these initial reviews that have to be done, and these are done not at the end of the job but throughout the design. So they do a preliminary studies, they review all of those. They do 25%, 75%.
Speaker 10:There's a design public hearing that has to get held and in addition to just reviewing the structural aspect of the bridge, there's a design public hearing that has to get held and in addition to just reviewing the structural aspect of the bridge, there are a lot more reviewers now that are looking at this. There's the highway departments. There's ADA accessibility reviews, the constructability reviews. The district office gets involved there. There goes to like over 20 people now, or 20 departments get review this instead just a localized review. So it's a lot more effort.
Speaker 10:So if you go to the next page, see the design level effort is significantly higher now. It's about three times what the effort is with the more complicated right away and the the schedule is longer too. So what it comes down to is that the, the design costs, significantly go up. We have, if you look, we had an original agreement to do the chapter 85 for $270,000 or so, but the now, with the total that goes up with all of the design to get this through to advertising, goes up to approximately 1.4 million. There's a series of amendments here. This was broken out like this at the request of the city of time to conform to how timeliness of how they wanted to fund this. But but the gist of it is it's a significantly more expensive project now and the. There is still, I think, a desire to pursue this, even with the existing cost, because it it's $5 million from the feds, 5.3., 5.3. 5.3. That is being put towards the construction.
Speaker 1:Thank you, mr Jones.
Speaker 2:Ms Riley questions comments it just seems like an absurd amount of bureaucracy and rip tape. It is.
Speaker 10:I will say that I know that that design figure is the big jump. There is kind of hard to take in. But I will say that for the projects that we do for MassDOT that's totally in line with the fee that we get for when we're working for MassDOT on one of these projects.
Speaker 7:Anything else.
Speaker 6:Mr Collins, you stole my phrase red tape. But thank you for the thorough explanation. It would help me understand it much better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I would echo the comments of my two colleagues, I appreciate the thorough presentation and I think there's an irony in the federal government inserting itself in a project and it costing more money, and they choose to say that we can't handle the job when they are. Complexity costs us more money, so, go figure, we seem to be having that struggle with the state and the feds a lot lately. But I think it's not only a worthwhile project for the necessary project. I'm sure our viewers at home are wondering why almost every week we're talking about bridges, but this is an issue that we have to be proactive on as opposed to being reactive. It's about public safety. Our mind, folks that this bridge is used by buses to transport our kids to Bristol, plymouth, and it's a major thoroughfare to get to Todd and for Rainham residents and vice versa, and so I would fully support advancing this and entering into that MOA with the city of Totten for design and engineering. But I'll open it up to the board for their decision.
Speaker 6:I'm in favor of going forward. If you're looking at me for an answer first, I'll make a motion to go forward. That's a motion.
Speaker 2:I'll second it reluctantly. All in favor, aye.
Speaker 1:That is approved unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, that was great. Next up is a discussion and vote on awarding a contract with Carpenter LLC for the bathroom renovation project at the Senior Center. The bid was done in accordance with Master and Rural Arts, chapter 13, and 149,. Excuse me, and the lowest qualified bidder was Carpenter LLC and in this case they were in fact the lowest bidder qualified based upon many references that were completed, and it's the town administrator's recommendation to award this, and it's a project cost of $142,499,000. What is the board's pleasure?
Speaker 2:A motion to approve Second All in favor? Aye, that is approved.
Speaker 1:Next is discussion and vote on one year watch God annual total security suite renewal for town hall with MX consultant. What's the board's pleasure?
Speaker 2:This comes with the time industry's recommendation and I will motion to approve.
Speaker 1:Second and just for discussion, Mr Barnes, where are we at with the review on IT Cause? I feel like we've had this conversation now on replay a couple of years in a row.
Speaker 8:I have a committee that I put together where you have to start meeting in a More more robust robust fashion.
Speaker 1:Good, okay, all in favor. All right that is approved and next is discussion and vote on one year Cisco Meraki mr Series enterprise license for ten access points, which is also an IT contract with MX Consulting, again with the TA's recommendation. What's the board's pleasure?
Speaker 2:Motion to approve.
Speaker 1:Second, all in favor. Aye, that is approved. Next up is Automatic Amusement Device Licenses Renewals, video Extra and Ryan's Family Amusement. What's the board's pleasure? Motion to approve Second All in favor. Aye, that is approved. And finally, tag day request for rainham girls scouts with a host of dates that are enumerated on our agenda. What is the board's pleasure?
Speaker 2:motion to approve all in favor?
Speaker 1:all right, that is approved. Any other new business, miss riley? Mr collins, I have no new business. All right time to administrate his report, mr Barnes.
Speaker 8:Yes, for next meeting, December 17th, the idea is to do the annual license renewal, so you'll have a lot of things on the agenda for that meeting. Just to remind everyone, we're having a meeting on December 23rd, which is a Monday, not December 24th. December 24th, obviously, is the day before Christmas. There will be no public hours during that evening and there will be no public hours during the 23rd either, but we will be having our meeting. I just wanted to reinforce what Brian had pointed out, the we got a very complimentary note from Ryan Powers of the work that the police and fire department did today regarding the smoke caused by the light fixtures that gave out when the power went back on. He noted he's extremely grateful for the partnership that the schools have with the police and fire Departments in the town and its residents are safer because of these brave men and women, and I'd like to reinforce those comments as well.
Speaker 1:Thank you, miss Bronson. Any questions?
Speaker 2:No, I just answer that to our police chief. Also said that the staff and the administrators and the students at RMS also All cooperated and everything went according to plan.
Speaker 1:Thank you, mr Collins. Selections report Ms Rather.
Speaker 2:Just a couple of things. Just want to really thank everybody in the community that participates and in all of the great events that happen this time of year from the Park and Recreation's tree lighting there was a road race on Sunday, rate of our holiday craft fair on Saturday, there was a Merrill school had their winter happening, and just so many great events going on in town and I just want to thank everybody. That's part of what makes rain in such a special place with such great community involvement, and just thank everybody for that.
Speaker 1:Thank you, mr riley. Mr collins, all right correspondence. We have none press time. We have none emergency business, miss riley. Mr collins see this in the community. Okay, miss riley.
Speaker 2:Performance of the administrative duties and just to report that I have reviewed the town of Reading invoice and payroll warrants dated December 10th 2024, as has our finance director. Thank you.
Speaker 1:And at this time I'll entertain a motion to enter into executive session for Mass General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 21A2, to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel, or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel, or to connect collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. Fire chief will return to open session for the singular purpose of adjournment. What is the board pleasure?
Speaker 2:I'll make that motion second and roll call.
Speaker 1:Miss Riley, mr Collins, chair votes. Aye, we are recessed into executive session. Thank you all.